Deaf man sues Braves alleging hiring discrimination after being passed over for IT job

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A deaf man is suing the Atlanta Braves after he says he was passed over for a job due to being hearing impaired.

Clyde McKinney, Jr., an Alabama resident, filed a lawsuit in federal court saying the Braves violated his rights in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

According to the lawsuit, he had applied for a position as an in-office senior-level information technology officer for the Atlanta Braves, which would have been based at their Cobb County corporate office.

McKinney’s lawsuit says he would have been able to perform the job in question, if hired, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Responding to a request to comment by Channel 2 Action News, the Braves said “We are going to decline comment.”

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McKinney first filed charges of discrimination based on violating the ADA with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Oct. 10, 2023, according to the court filing. On Jan. 5, McKinney received a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC, which was included in his lawsuit as an exhibit.

As part of the lawsuit, McKinney said he has not been prevented from having a multi-decade career as a data and network system engineer, including for large companies such as Carpathia Hosting, GEOcommand, Inc. and IBM.

To perform his duties’ communication requirements, McKinney’s lawsuit says he uses a combination of American Sign Language, lip reading, verbal communication and an occasional interpretative answering service with a translator for real-time phone conversations.

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The court filing says McKinney first applied for a position as Director of IT Engineering and Architecture for the Braves in January 2023 and made it through two rounds of virtual interviews with the company’s human resources staff.

On March 22, 2023, McKinney’s lawsuit says he was in a third interview, this time with Senior Vice President of Technology Scott Waid, which was conducted along with McKinney’s translator.

During the interview, the lawsuit says Waid “posed pointed questions about the extent of McKinney’s hearing impairment, including whether McKinney could hear any part of Waid’s communications.”

The lawsuit claims Waid asked how much McKinney relied on his interpreter, whether the interpreter would physically have to be present at work, and whether the interpreter was knowledgeable on IT issues.

According to the lawsuit, there was “little to no conversation about McKinney’s comprehension of the array of technical issues the job required.”

McKinney said Waid also “oddly asked” him to talk about an experience he had attending a deaf awareness event at a Braves game, “a community outreach feature that had no ostensible relevance to an IT Director role.”

The lawsuit accused Waid of discussing the potential cost of having a translator hired in-house to assist McKinney, noting that the team had not budgeted for doing so. Waid also “openly observed that McKinney’s impairment might compromise his ability to serve as a thought leader and personnel manager and might generate a communications ‘barrier’ for McKinney,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit said McKinney’s managerial credentials were only mentioned while considering if his hearing impairment would impact his ability to lead the IT department.

On April 20, 2023, McKinney said he was informed he would not be getting the job with the Braves, and raised concerns with a recruiter for the team over LinkedIn, mentioning the focus on his deafness rather than his experience.

The lawsuit says those comments were shared with the Braves’ HR department, who then met with McKinney in mid-May. On June 8, 2023, McKinney contacted the EEOC to file a complaint for discrimination based on his disability.

Afterward, a member of the Braves’ HR department, Shannon De-Zilva White, told McKinney that they had interviewed Waid and he had “acknowledged conveying to McKinney that he was not a good candidate” due to his “communication barriers” and the potential cost of hiring a full-time ASL interpreter.

The lawsuit said De-Zilva White told McKinney “she believed he was equipped to perform a number of tasks for the team in the IT field” and that Waid’s comments had “likely violated the Braves’ internal policies regarding inclusion and equity for disabled individuals.”

In a later meeting in July between McKinney and De-Zilva White, he informed her of his EEOC complaint and a separately filed complaint with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. After that, De-Zilva White ceased communication with McKinney. As a result of the proceedings during this process, McKinney said his rights were “flagrantly violated” and filed the lawsuit in federal court to gain back lost economic opportunities, including wages and front pay, as well as compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.

However, the Atlanta Braves filed a response in court to McKinney’s lawsuit, denying any discrimination against McKinney on the basis of his disability and denying relief on those grounds. The team also denied any and all allegations in McKinney’s October 2023 EEOC complaint.

The response in court does note that they “admit only that Mr. Waid and Plaintiff discussed his experience attending a deaf awareness event at a Braves game,” but denied the other allegations related to that conversation as outlined in McKinney’s lawsuit. The response does admit the meetings between De-Zilva white and McKinney occurred but denies the claims relevant to those meetings in terms of alleged discrimination.

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